The present invention relates generally to the field of display module mounting assemblies wherein a visual display module is mounted to a chassis or housing. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mounting assembly for an electrically controlled visual display module having a plurality of electrical leads arranged in a linear array and extending from an end surface of the display module.
In mounting visual display modules to a chassis, care must be taken not to obstruct the front surface of the display module, which surface provides the desired displays, by the mounting structure used to affix the display module to a chassis or housing. In addition, it is desirable to mount the display module as close as possible to a viewing opening contained in the chassis or housing such that the front surface of the module can be readily viewed throughout a large viewing angle.
Electrically controlled visual diplay modules provide selective displays in response to received electrical signals, and therefore these modules modules must be electrically connected to additional electrical components which provide the control signals for the module. The least expensive way of accomplishing this electrical connection is to utilize a printed circuit board and solder the electrical control leads of the module to the circuit board, then the combined circuit board and display module are mechanically mounted to the chassis or housing.
When the display module comprises a central body having extending electrical leads arranged in two parallel linear arrays such that the module resembles a "dual in-line" integrated circuit package, it is customary to mount the module on a carrier printed circuit board which is then positioned at a predetermined distance away from a chassis wall having a viewing opening. Various techniques have been utilized to ensure the proper positioning of the display module with respect to the chassis wall opening, and one such technique is described in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 136,010, filed Mar. 31, 1980 entitled, "Method and Apparatus for Movable Printed Circuit Board Display" which is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,316,235. This application illustrates a complex parallelogram structure for the mounting of a printed circuit board carrying a display module, and is used to ensure that the display module front viewing surface will be positioned parallel to a planar clear plastic protective covering fixed to a surrounding chassis which protects the display module. This technique, while feasible for display modules having electrical leads in a dual in-line configuration, is still rather complex and costly, and does not lend itself for utilization if the display module electrical leads extend from only a single end surface of a central body of the display module.
In mounting assemblies utilized prior to the present invention, vacuum fluorescent displays, also known as "bottle" displays, have been used as visual display modules. Some prior mounting assemblies have utilized such bottle display modules having only a single linear array of electrical leads, and in such cases the central body portion of the display modules has been provided with an integral projection. A retaining clip which snaps into a printed circuit board has been utilized to grasp this integral projection and maintain the central body of the display module mechanically fixed to a carrier printed circuit board. This type of prior art assembly requires the additional expense of a mounting clip which is snapped into the carrier printed circuit board, and also requires that the central body of the bottle display have an integral retaining projection which does not interfere with the front viewing surface of the display. Typically, this prior art assembly comprises inserting the electrical leads of the bottle display module into holes in a printed circuit board, wrapping the electrical leads of the bottle display around an edge of the circuit board, and snapping in a retainer clip into the circuit board which grasps the integral projection of the bottle display and thereby maintains the bottle display in a fixed position on the circuit board. If the bottle display has no such integral retaining projection, the use of this assembly is impractical since the retaining clip would then presumably contact a portion of the front viewing surface of the module and thereby obscure some of this surface while also requiring the front viewing surface to be spaced back from viewing openings contained in an external chassis for the module since clearance space for the retaining clip must then be provided